Despite two-time UFC middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen’s well-documented feud with Brazilian fighters, “The American Gangster” will be rooting for Vitor Belfort when he faces Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 152. “Vito…
Despite two-time UFC middleweight title challenger ChaelSonnen‘s well-documented feud with Brazilian fighters, “The American Gangster” will be rooting for VitorBelfort when he faces Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 152.
“Vitor’s an excellent fighter,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie. “It’s world champion after world champion that he fights, and this isn’t any different. It’s a good chance for Vitor, and I hope he seizes the moment.”
Sonnen has been anything but complimentary of Belfort in the past, calling him a “chicken and a liar” when he withdrew from the UFC 147 main event against Wanderlei Silva due to a broken hand.
The former two-time All-American collegiate wrestler was offered a fight with Jones after Dan Henderson was forced out of his UFC 151 title fight just nine days before the fight, but “Bones” declined a bout with Sonnen and the event was ultimately cancelled.
“The Phenom,” who hasn’t fought at light heavyweight for nearly five years, got the nod for a championship fight after LyotoMachida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua both turned down a rematch with Jones on short notice.
Sonnen made it clear he holds no hard feelings against Belfort or the UFC for the way the situation played out, but he is still critical of Jones for turning down a fight with him.
“We’re used to being attacked by competition,” he said. “We welcome it. We’re used to being attacked by the states because it’s an opportunity to go in and educate them. But what we’re not used to is being attacked from within. We’re not used to having one of our own set off a grenade and walk away laughing and never look back. It was really kind of an unbelievable experience from where I stand.”
Initially, it seemed as though Sonnen‘s scheduled return to the light heavyweight division against Forrest Griffin at UFC 155, scheduled for Dec. 29, would remain intact.
However, Sonnen indicated that may not be the case. “There’s going to be some news coming out on me soon. We’ll see how things play out. Stay tuned.”
Sonnen‘s fight with Griffin would have been a rematch from Sept. 2003, where Griffin won via first-round triangle choke.
Should that fight be off the table, a matchup with Machida could be a real possibility given the legitimate bad blood between the two fighters.
To say the last four days in the world of mixed martial arts has been chaotic is an understatement. We have never seen events transpire this way. As of last Thursday morning, UFC 151 was supposed to take place this Saturday with Jon Jones def…
To say the last four days in the world of mixed martial arts has been chaotic is an understatement. We have never seen events transpire this way. As of last Thursday morning, UFC 151 was supposed to take place this Saturday with Jon Jones defending his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against Dan Henderson.
On Wednesday night, rumors started to swirl that Henderson had suffered an injury in training. On Thursday morning, the UFC sent out a press release to the media stating that Dana White would be holding a conference call at 2 p.m. ET to discuss 151.
The call took place with White saying that Henderson suffered a partially torn MCL and was out of the fight. Then, what White said after that was a shocker. The fight was offered to former two-time middleweight challenger Chael Sonnen, and he accepted the fight. But when the fight was offered to Jones, he turned it down.
After that, White announced UFC 151 was cancelled due to these circumstances.
There has been a lot of controversy as to whether Jones should have or shouldn’t have accepted the fight. We caught up with Sonnen’s head trainer Scott McQuary, who breaks everything down for us on the Sonnen side.
“I got a text from Chael on Wednesday at about 6:30 Pacific saying we are going to have an emergency meeting and to call all the coaches into my office,” McQuary stated to Bleacher Report. “We met up and we all sat down. Chael said flatly, ‘You can’t watch the Dan Henderson/Jon Jones fight next weekend.’
“We were all kind of surprised. He goes, ‘Because you are going to cornering me against Jones.’
“Just about everybody’s jaws dropped. None of us really had any idea this was coming. Obviously we were all very excited looking at the prospect of it. There were a lot of different things to think about. Eight days isn’t a lot of time. Chael hadn’t really been in the gym a lot in the last couple months. He always takes some time off like most guys do after the fight.
“But he was down for it and we were down for it. We started making arrangements right there and then. Within five minutes, we were in the ring and training. It wasn’t until later that night, I get a text from him (Sonnen) at about 11:30 p.m. Pacific that Jones said no (to taking the fight).”
McQuary didn’t mince his words to Sonnen about why Jones didn’t take the fight.
“I said he (Jones) was a chicken,” McQuary stated. “I said he’s not taking this because he could lose. It’s stating the obvious. Anybody can lose, but I think he felt he had a pretty good chance to lose.”
Even after Sonnen found out, the Sonnen camp was still holding out hope all the way until Dana White announced the card was cancelled.
“If you look at Chael’s Twitter account, where he was tweeting to Jones and asking him, ‘Hey you got 30 minutes before Dana’s conference call to be a champion or a coward.’
“Obviously he was trying to bring him on to take the fight, poking away at him to get him to do it and even offered his purse as well. I don’t know what else Chael could have done. We held out hope for a last-second Hail Mary that Jones would have some cojones and step up to the plate. When Dana made the announcement, that sealed it for us.”
White stated in the conference call that Jones had talked to his head trainer Greg Jackson, who advised Jones to not take the fight due to having only three days to prepare for the fight.
Jackson also said to MMA Weekly in an interview that Sonnen had been training with Dan Henderson to prepare for Jones and felt Sonnen would have an advantage in the fact they had been working together. McQuary states that is the furthest thing from the truth.
“Chael was not training with Dan Henderson,” McQuary stated. “he had spoken on the phone with Dan a little bit, but no training whatsoever. Chael took some time off after the Anderson (Silva) fight to mentally and physically recover. It’s exhausting going through a camp like that. I can tell you completely that Chael hadn’t stepped into the gym until two weeks ago. He did three training sessions in those two weeks, and they were pretty light for him or anybody. He barely broke a sweat.”
A lot of people have been critical of Jackson giving that advice to Jones. McQuary feels that some trainers have more influence over fighters than others, and it makes Jackson look bad in this situation.
“It depends on the fighter,” McQuary stated. “In this case I think everybody has an influence. Trainers have more influence than others. Those guys (fighters) have a mind of their own. They have the right to free choice. If you give that power over like Jon Jones did to Greg Jackson, whether he was advocating responsibility or passing it off. I don’t know if that’s a completely smart decision. I think Greg Jackson is coming across as an extremely cautious coach that fights not to lose where Chael fights to win.”
It has been a criticism in the past of Jackson and his style of how he prepares his fighters. McQuary says just look at the fights.
“I think it plays a very protective way of winning and keeping a good record,” McQuary stated. “Greg has been criticized by other people in the past for doing just that. Having his fighters not necessarily going after the finish and utilize the other tools they have and taking risks. This is just another example to me of him trying to keep his fighters from taking any risks and protecting what they have.”
“Unfortunately you’re not going to be known as a legend that way,” McQuary stated. “You have to put it out there and you have to remember where you came from. A lot of these guys got their start or are getting into the UFC by taking a short-notice fight against somebody who was skilled and ready.”
People have wondered what Sonnen would have done if he was in the position that Jones was in. McQuary feels there would be no doubt at all.
“Absolutely without a doubt, in a heartbeat,” McQuary stated. “I wouldn’t even have to say anything. Chael steps up to the plate every time. He would have no doubt in his mind about the fight. Chael backs up what he says and follows it through with action.”
Jon Jones is one of the fastest-rising stars and arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. The 25-year-old is the current UFC Light Heavyweight champion and has had little difficulty running through one of the toughest divisions in the sport. La…
Jon Jones is one of the fastest-rising stars and arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. The 25-year-old is the current UFC Light Heavyweight champion and has had little difficulty running through one of the toughest divisions in the sport. Last year, Jones won four fights all by stoppage and three came against former UFC champions (Rua, Jackson and Machida).
Despite his success and entertaining virtuoso style, Jones has not been a favorite among fans. Some view him as two-faced and smug, a guy that says all the right things in front of the camera but is really a phony.
Others question his tenacity. Jones is not a “macho” man and refuses to engage in trading pre-fight barbs with opponents. Instead he has always been quick to heap praise on each and every adversary he faces. Even when Jones found himself in the middle of a nasty feud with former sparring partner Rashad Evans he most often took the high road.
However, it was Jones’ recent decision that didn’t jibe well with an ever-distant MMA fan base. He was scheduled to defend his title against Dan Henderson at UFC 151 but Henderson was forced to pull out of the fight with a knee injury.
Jones was offered to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice but declined and thus the entire card was scrapped. Since the decision was announced to remove UFC 151 from the fight calendar, fighters, fans and UFC President Dana White have sounded off and blamed Jones and his Team Jackson coach, Greg Jackson for the event cancellation.
While most people are angry at Jon Jones for not fighting, here are five reasons he was wise not to fight at UFC 151.
The ancients considered crucifixion the most brutal of all their capital punishments, worse than being burned alive or even beheaded. Imagine, if you will, being beaten to within an inch of your life, skin flailed open, wounds severe and fresh, victim …
The ancients considered crucifixion the most brutal of all their capital punishments, worse than being burned alive or even beheaded. Imagine, if you will, being beaten to within an inch of your life, skin flailed open, wounds severe and fresh, victim of a whip that often had small metal balls attached to it, as if a mere whip were not enough.
That was called the scourge, and it was just the beginning.
Next was the walk of shame. Your newly whipped back wasn’t given time to heal. Instead, you were given a 75-pound crossbeam (at upward of 300 pounds, carrying the entire cross would have been impossible; see Son, Joe) and forced to carry it on your own raw back, all while wearing a sign describing your horrendous crime.
Like pirates who forced their victims to dig their own graves before murdering them, it was adding insult to injury. “We’ll kill you,” the message seemed to be. “But we’d like you to do all the heavy lifting, please.”
All this was just a prelude for the main event—after being given a drink for the pain, the criminal would be nailed to the cross and left to die. The Roman general Crassus had six thousand slaves crucified on the Appian Way, punishment for a slave rebellion. Even Jesus, the Son of God in Christian theology, went to his death with two thieves as his companions.
Not so for UFC star Jon Jones. He shoulders his burdens alone.
The embattled UFC light heavyweight champion has come under massive fire from all corners of the MMA universe for his decision not to fight Chael Sonnen for his title at the now canceled UFC 151.
With just eight days’ notice, Jones and his team didn’t feel it would be prudent to face a new opponent, one with a very different style than top contender Dan Henderson, who tore the MCL in his right knee and was forced to withdraw from the bout at the last minute.
Fans were in an uproar after the announcement that the UFC would cancel an event for the first time. Some would be stuck with expensive plane tickets and hotel reservations. Others were angry for the sake of being angry. UFC president Dana White felt betrayed by Jones’ decision to turn down the title fight.
But the champion, clearly, didn’t see himself as White’s Judas. He had another biblical figure in mind.
Carrying the cross for my company’s decision. If someone has to take the blame, I will accept full responsibility for the way UFC 151
It takes a certain level of hubris to compare yourself to Jesus Christ—and that level is best described as “massive.” At worst, that’s exactly what Jones did. In the best-case scenario he’s simply bemoaning how aggrieved he is, offering a mea culpa that is anything but sincere.
It’s clear from his comments here that Jones’ apology is not an apology at all. He and his people have made it obvious they don’t actually believe he is responsible for the event’s cancellation. In his mind, he’s the victim, a martyr forced to pay a heavy price for the sins of others. Christ, if you are a believer, died to save the souls of all men. Jones, it seems, went to his public relations doom for the soul of mixed martial arts.
When most Christians mention “carrying the cross,” they aren’t positioning themselves as the hero in their own morality play, the way Jones does here. The Reverend Billy Graham explains:
In Jesus’ day, a cross wasn’t just a symbol of pain and suffering; it was mainly a symbol of death. What Jesus was telling them is that they needed to put to death their own plans and desires, and then turn their lives over to Him and do His will every day.
You see, Jesus doesn’t simply call us to believe that He existed, or even to believe that He can save us. He calls on us to commit our whole lives to Him—to trust Him alone for our salvation, and then to follow Him as His disciples.
When a Christian carries the cross, it’s typically a humbling experience, turning your life over to your savior. Only a narcissist of extreme proportions would take that amazing submission to God’s will and turn it into his own martyr parable. Even if you, charitably, believe the evangelical Jones didn’t mean his comments to have any religious connotations, he’s still singing the blues and making himself, and not the fighters out a paycheck and the fans out a show, out to be the victim.
Last week I wondered why Jon Jones was so awful at public relations. I, clearly, wasn’t the only one wondering. The next day his public relations spokesman John Fuller quit, announcing in an email to MMA media, “From this moment forward, I will no longer act as the publicist for Jon ‘Bones’ Jones. If you have any questions, requests or comments, you may reach out to his agent/manager, Malki Kawa.”
And that was before Jones announced he wouldn’t fight Sonnen and made the bizarre Jesus comparison on Twitter. Fuller, it seems, got out in the nick of time.
The folks at Nike have to be wondering about whether they made the right decision to partner with Jones. In the months since they started negotiations, Jones has been arrested for a DUI, announced his mercenary intentions to the world and now been cast as MMA’s ultimate villain by the popular president of the UFC.
And he’s compared himself to Jesus.
All this leaves me with the same question that plagued me last week too. Why is Jon Jones so bad at public relations? And why is he, seemingly, getting worse at it?
(“My advice would be to find a nice cave somewhere and go into hiding for three days. When you come out, they’ll worship you.”)
According to our latest homepage poll, a full 49% of you believe that Jon Jones deserves most of the blame for UFC 151’s abrupt cancellation, compared to just 27% for UFC president Dana White, the guy who actually canceled the event. Public opinion of Jones has gone from bad to irredeemably awful in the last week, and the apology he posted on twitter this weekend probably won’t help much:
“Carrying the cross for my company’s decision. If someone has to take the blame, I will accept full responsibility for the way UFC 151 was canceled. I want to sincerely apologize to all the other athletes/fans who’s time and money was waisted. [sic] I feel terrible about the way that was handled.”
Okay, so we’re just assuming that Jones is comparing himself to Jesus in that first sentence; he could also be comparing himself to Kimo Leopoldo. But considering that there’s already a conception of Jones as a person whose holier-than-thou attitude doesn’t match his behavior, all Jesus-based self-references should probably be avoided for the time being. It’s the kind of thing a publicist would tell Jones, if he still had one.
(“My advice would be to find a nice cave somewhere and go into hiding for three days. When you come out, they’ll worship you.”)
According to our latest homepage poll, a full 49% of you believe that Jon Jones deserves most of the blame for UFC 151′s abrupt cancellation, compared to just 27% for UFC president Dana White, the guy who actually canceled the event. Public opinion of Jones has gone from bad to irredeemably awful in the last week, and the apology he posted on twitter this weekend probably won’t help much:
“Carrying the cross for my company’s decision. If someone has to take the blame, I will accept full responsibility for the way UFC 151 was canceled. I want to sincerely apologize to all the other athletes/fans who’s time and money was waisted. [sic] I feel terrible about the way that was handled.”
Okay, so we’re just assuming that Jones is comparing himself to Jesus in that first sentence; he could also be comparing himself to Kimo Leopoldo. But considering that there’s already a conception of Jones as a person whose holier-than-thou attitude doesn’t match his behavior, all Jesus-based self-references should probably be avoided for the time being. It’s the kind of thing a publicist would tell Jones, if he still had one.
As for the apology itself, Jones says he takes the blame for “the way UFC 151 was canceled,” and “the way that was handled,” but not, of course, for what he actually did, which was turn down a fight on short-notice. It’s a subtle shift of blame back to who Jones really thinks should be blamed — the UFC and Dana White.
To me, the most interesting part of this saga will come later, when we see just how profoundly Jones’s relationship with the UFC will change. Jones has always promoted himself as a humble company man, but now that he’s experienced the full wrath of the UFC — and how quickly Dana can switch from your benefactor to your worst enemy as soon as you make a decision that doesn’t follow his script — loyalty to his bosses probably won’t be high on the light-heavyweight champion’s priority list.
Rankings are a silly thing.For starters, they’re entirely subjective. There’s a very good chance you’re going to take one look at my pound-for-pound list below and start laughing until you cry. And that’s fine.Your list of the best pound-for-pound figh…
Rankings are a silly thing.
For starters, they’re entirely subjective. There’s a very good chance you’re going to take one look at my pound-for-pound list below and start laughing until you cry. And that’s fine.
Your list of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport may look entirely different than mine. That’s fine, too.
Another reason rankings are silly? They have no bearing on what fights we’re going to see. The UFC and Strikeforce aren’t beholden to any kind of rankings system, which is ultimately why we’re going to see Vitor Belfort challenge for the UFC light heavyweight title on September 22 despite the fact that Belfort hasn’t fought at light heavyweight since returning to the promotion a few years ago.
But rankings are still fun. They’re a great conversation starter, and it’s a good way to put to paper your own view of the mixed martial arts landscape. Ultimately, that’s all I’m doing here: telling you what I think, giving you my view of the lay of the land. You may disagree—and in fact, most of you probably will—but we’ll still have plenty of fun discussing it.
Without further ado, I give you my pound for pound rankings for August 2012.
There’s an old saying that goes a little something like this: To be the man, you have to beat the man. And since Silva is still unbeaten in his UFC run, that makes him the man. There are plenty of folks nipping at Silva’s heels, but he’s still the best in the world at what he does.
2. Jon Jones
Jones hasn’t had the best year when it comes to public relations. But when he steps in the cage, Jones is still a revelation. You can hate him for his ill-fated decision to turn down a fight with Chael Sonnen—one that ultimately led to the cancellation of UFC 151—but you can’t hate him for what he does in the cage.
Put simply, Jones is one of the most dominant forces the sport has ever seen, and it’s only a matter of time before he’s occupying the top spot on this list.
3. Georges St-Pierre
St-Pierre has been inactive for well over a year at this point, which means he shouldn’t even be eligible for rankings at this point. But I simply cannot remove a fighter who has accomplished as much as St-Pierre has over the course of his career. Barring an unfortunate injury, he’ll return in November to face Carlos Condit and attempt to stake his claim as one of the best in the world.
4. Jose Aldo
Aldo returns to the cage against Erik Koch in October at UFC 153. Koch is a good fighter and a tough challenge for anyone, but the only thing folks want to talk about when it comes to Aldo is a potential bout with Frankie Edgar. I imagine we’ll see that fight in 2013, giving Aldo yet another opportunity to prove he’s one of the best young fighters in the sport.
5. Dan Henderson
Henderson’s unfortunate knee injury forced him out of his UFC 151 bout with Jones. Luckily for Henderson—and perhaps for all of us—Henderson’s MCL was only partially torn, which means no surgery and a lot less time spent on the shelf than we thought. I fully expect Henderson to get his chance at the winner of Jones vs. Belfort when he returns.
A win for Henderson would cement him as one of the greatest of all-time, and certainly the best American fighter in the history of the sport.
6. Dominick Cruz
Cruz will watch from the sidelines for a long time due to his knee injury, likely until next summer. When he returns, he’ll likely face whomever the interim bantamweight champion is at that point. It might be Renan Barao or it might be Michael McDonald. The only certain thing is that Cruz will eventually have that final grudge match with Urijah Faber.
7. Benson Henderson
Henderson defended his title in controversial fashion at UFC 150, sending Frankie Edgar packing to the featherweight division. Henderson’s next challenge comes in the form of the not-so-smooth-talking Nate Diaz. The pair will face off in the main event of December’s UFC on FOX show. It’s a big opportunity for Henderson to earn a ton of new fans on free network television.
8. Frankie Edgar
According to most, Edgar didn’t actually lose to Henderson at UFC 150. But the scorecards stand, and without a clear path back to another title shot in his future, Edgar finally made the decision to drop to featherweight.
He won’t get an immediate title shot, but I suspect he’ll only have to win one fight before Joe Silva makes the call to put him in the cage with Aldo for the UFC’s first real featherweight superfight.
9. Gilbert Melendez
Melendez is still the big fish in Strikeforce’s small pond. He’ll face Pat Healy in September, but what happens after that? If Melendez wins, he doesn’t have many plausible opponents remaining because Healy is barely a plausible title challenger as it is. Melendez can only hope Zuffa and Showtime go their separate ways at the end of the Strikeforce television deal next spring so he can make the long-awaited jump to the UFC.
10. Joseph Benavidez
Benavidez has a chance to become the first UFC flyweight champion when he faces Demetrious Johnson at UFC 152 next month. He’s the clear favorite, and rightly so. Outside of two losses to the much bigger Cruz, Benavidez has been perfect in his MMA career. He’s the uncrowned flyweight champion-in-waiting.
To say the last four days in the world of mixed martial arts has been chaotic is an understatement. We have never seen events transpire this way. As of last Thursday morning, 
The ancients considered 
